In this 2005 file photo, then outgoing CEO of Guardian Holdings Limited, Peter Ganteaume (left), introduces his designated replacement, Rory O'Brien, to investors in Kingston at a Guardian Life briefing. Ganteaume is expected back in the saddle as interim replacement at the end of December. - File
Regional insurance company Guardian Holdings Limited (GHL) continued to demonstrate renewed financial vigour in its third quarter, reporting net profit of TT$98.5 million pumped up by fair value gains of TT$66 million on its investments.
This outurn, according to chairman, Arthur Lok Jack, was a vindication of projections that the company's performance would have got better in the last two periods into year end.
Timed with the release of Guardian's earnings reports was news that its chief executive officer, Irishman, Rory O'Brien, would depart the company in December, when he would have completed 18-months in the job.
No succession gap
Lok Jack immediately signalled that there would be no succession gap, having plucked Peter Ganteaume out of retirement to run the company until a replacement is found for O'Brien, who heads back to his home country "to pursue other opportunities".
The Irishman's relationship with Guardian began in 1999, when as a U.K.-based specialist in mergers and acquisitions, he assisted with negotiations leading to the acquisition of Kingston, Jamaica-based Guardian Life. He would later advise the company on other deals.
O'Brien became GHL's chief executive in July 2006, succeeding Ganteaume who faded into retirement, leaving the company TT$361 million in the black at year end December 2005.
Those profits would soon evaporate, putting O'Brien in the dubious position of being the only CEO under whose leadership Guardian recorded a loss.
Lok Jack, in a statement to shareholders this year, linked the TT$236 million of losses at year end December 2006 to restructuring costs for Guardian's U.K. property and casualty businesses as well as a sluggish regional stock market.
Nine months later, the company's third quarter's performance, while building on the TT$28 million profit made in the June 2007 period, was still insufficient to pull Guardian clear of the red for its financial year to date.
In its nine month to September 30, the Trinidad company reported net losses of TT$69 million, totally erasing TT$260 million of operating profit.
But even that position marked a 10-fold improvement in Guardian's finances relative to the 2006 period when net losses rose above TT$705 million linked to more than half a billion of writedowns on the value of the company's investments.
This year, the fair value adjustments were less severe, paring only TT$183 million from operating gains, compared to TT$586 in the nine-month period for 2006.
Strong showing
The company also reported strong showing on its most important performance measure, net insurance premiums, which rose to TT$3.1 billion over three quarters, putting it on track to outpace the $3.67 billion earned in the full 12 months of 2006. Guardian is also banking on gains from the sale of its RBTT shares under the take-over bid by Royal Bank of Canada to further offset fair value losses. RBTT shares are now trading at TT$35. RBC has offered TT$40 for 60 per cent of individual holdings, while the other 40 per cent will be a swap of shares.
Lok Jack also reported that all operating companies in the group produced increased revenues in the past nine months: net life premium was up 20 per cent, health premiums grew 9.0 per cent, and property 28 per cent, with the U.K. business contributing almost one-third of the income for the latter business segment.
business@gleanerjm.com
